Drinkable Water from Green Stock Tank

[SunnyWalker]

Please limit comments to retrieving water from stock tanks and/or green algae type ponds/bodies of water. And please assume that this is the only water available (for this discussion and for some of CDT):

I used a Sweetwater filter system this last summer for a few days on CDT. After only two days of retrieving water from stock tanks it was giving me green water. (I scrubbed the filter after each use). I could not bring myself to drink this water. Remember: the water is green cows are standing around and their saliva and all is dripping into the water, etc.

What is the answer here? Carry multiple filters and swap out? Do I need a new filter system (different, better)? Hard to believe, Sweetwater is pretty good. OK, please give me your experience and input. I do appreciate it because I am going to be returning to the same environment this Summer.

[grayfox]

Here is a link to Minn. DNR info that might help. There are times that the park service posts warnings here so I think the problem is everywhere.

If the cows are drinking it and seem ok then I might drink it if there was no other choice-- but I would avoid it if I could, cows are not smarter than we are about water quality. If the tank seems to monitered by a rancher it is probably ok--probably. I don't think the toxins, red and blue-green types anyway, are filterable or removeable by any means available to a hiker.

I would clean out the filter with bleach until it runs clear. If you are really worried replace it.

[SunnyWalker]

An additional reason for this thread: I have read a lot of comments on WB RE water. There are those who use nothing, and then there are the people who use chemical tablets, and then the filter type. What I am asking is this-you are at a STOCK TANK and you HAVE TO GET WATER FROM THIS STOCK TANK AND THE WATER IS GREEN AND COWS ARE DIPPING THEIR MOUTHS IN IT AND IT IS ALL BUGGY AND SALIVA AND ETC., ETC. What are you going to do here? What is best and please respond to my question about my filter if you have experience. Thanks!

[SunnyWalker]

Thanks Grayfox. I had another in a bounce box and I did replace it. Thanks for the info. But what would you have done or what do you do in this sit?

[grayfox]

The link-sorry--http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/julaug10/algae.html

[grayfox]

From my experience with stock tanks--they are usually ok up here in the north. Cows don't have anything in their spit that I know of that could hurt you. Our tanks sometimes grew some green stuff that we would clean out with a brush but none of the animals seemed to suffer for it.

When I have hiked in very dry places, I have carried a small durable nalgene of water in my pack that was not to be use unless it was an emergency situation. I have also backtracked a day to tank up because an expected source was not found and I couldn't be sure that the next one would be either. If you think it will be a problem, be sure to carry some extra carrying capacity like a big platypus or camelback. And no washing until you are sure you have a good supply. And pack the containers with extra care.

[Feral Bill]

If you are really hurting, I expect the danger from dehydration is greater and more immediate that that from nasty water. Serious chemical polutants excepted.

[mweinstone]

lot of really bad info here. where to start.
it is impossible to use a filter right and get green water.
bleach washing a filter element ruins it.
water contaminated with gyardia , ecoli and cow spit is fine when treated. fine.
filters are not needed on the AT.
finding contaminated water that appears clear and clean is next to impossible on the AT
suffering dehydration can cause you to slip and fall,get lost and disoriented, cramp up and not be able to hike, and heat stroke and exaustion. given the choice to exit the mountains hydrated and safe but with a bad water issue, as opposed to being unable to exit due to no clean water, but also with no water contaminate issue, i choose to drink bad water, exit safely and suffer in town.

[mweinstone]

the instructions for msr filters state radioactive water can be saftly filtered but will reduce the life of the element. fear of water and inexsperience with filters is rampent.

[garlic08]

This happened to me on the CDT in NM. One morning at the beginning of a 25-mile walk to my next water source, a steel cattle tank, I met a rare sight--a hiker coming the other way. He assured me there was water in the tank. You seldom get that kind of water info on the CDT. So I didn't reserve any water like I normally do. That evening when I got to the tank, it was dry and surrounded by thirsty cattle. There was a liter or two of scummy green stuff in the lowest corner the cattle couldn't reach. The next water was 10 miles away so the situation wasn't all that dire.

So I loaded my oldest bottle with a liter of the stuff, filtered through my bandanna and treated with a double dose of Aqua Mira and started walking, thirsty. (I was carrying an old Sweetwater at that point and it had gotten uselessly clogged, even pre-filtered, the last time I used it, at a relatively clean spring that was too full of algae. I was hoping to find clear water to clean it with some day soon.) My plan was to drink the stuff only if I couldn't make it to water that night. I did take one sip after a half hour or so, and didn't gag or die.

It was promising to be a rough and memorable evening of hiking, but then a surprise--an unmapped reservation road! What followed is a whole other story of trail magic and cultural discovery. I was welcomed to the reservation, offered food, beer and weed. Water was more difficult--it took several more hours to find that. But finally successful I continued on. I also learned the tanks in the area are filled on a rotating basis from a single well. I was a little unlucky to find one dry.

Anyway, back to the point, and reiterating good advice above: don't worry about cattle saliva. I've never seen cattle defecate in an above-ground stock tank. Don't trust a mechanical filter too much for the long term. Try to carry enough reserve to get you to the next source. Be prepared to hike in the cool of the night, including backtracking.

[Spirit Walker]

We used a Pur (now Katadyn) Hiker on both our CDT hikes. When the water was really bad, we poured through a bandana, then filtered, then put in iodine. That was rare. Usually we just filtered. And yes, sometimes the water still tasted green, but we never got sick. My concern wasn't cow spit but dead critters. However quite often stock tanks have water coming out of a pipe that is located above the water level. Frequently we got water directly from the pipe and didn't even filter. The worst were the ponds where the cows waded in. But when you're really desperate, even that will do in a pinch. Like Garlic there were a couple of times where we got a quart of water and kept going, hoping for better water. We always found it, one way or another. (i.e. In NM we sometimes ran into cars whose drivers offered water.)

[sbhikes]

If the filter is actually functioning (the water is going through the filter elements), wouldn't the color simply indicate the presence of something smaller than the filter element?

I have drunk green water and orange water after filtering and had no problems. The color doesn't always indicate that the water is bad. I would think that if a filter plus chemical treatment can be trusted to kill the living things that can harm you, the inert things leftover that can't hurt you, while unpleasant to look at, aren't really a problem.

Anyway, I have done like Iceaxe says and carried water I'd really rather not drink in the hopes that better water will come along. Sometimes I have had to drink the gross stuff but most often I've managed to find better water before resorting to it. I have not hiked the CDT but I hike in So Cal.

[sheepdog]

If it was all that was available I would have boiled it and then chemical treated it. Lots of parasites in stock water.

[Chance09]

I'd filter then bleach if it came down to it. Probably not picking up my filter until NM this year tho.

[mweinstone]

if you want to demonstrate how a filter cannot make colored water, filter gatorade. clear as a bell. pure h2o comes out. and allways will. if you want to demonstrate how to make colored water come thru a filter, you cant. unless you damage the filter or use it wrong. period.

[Spirit Walker]

Chance, you may want your filter for Wyoming as well. The cows will definitely be out when you're there. You'll be sharing water with cows and sheep and horses the entire trail - but Wyoming and NM are the most problematic.

[sbhikes]

I don't know, Matty. I've filtered water in little puddles in the rocks and it was orange going in and orange coming out of the filter. I've also filtered green algae water in a stagnant pool. Green going in, a bit less green going out. Never got sick from either.

[tjforrester]

The best thing that ever happened to me hiking wise is my Sweetwater filter breaking during my first long trek. I've used bleach ever since, and that includes water coming out of stock tanks on the CDT. There were a couple of times when the water was so dirty it freaked me out, so I boiled before drinking.

[tjforrester]

finding contaminated water that appears clear and clean is next to impossible on the AT

I advise against drinking from the creeks that run through the valley bottoms on the AT. The water is crystal clear, but those creeks are full of pesticides and fertilizer run off from farming. Unless you are near death from dehydration, there's no good reason to drink from those sources.

[SunnyWalker]

Well, I have used my SW filter system for many years. This was a new filter element. I had it in right. I had a prefilter on it and coffee bags on the end of that. i did get green water coming out. Not as green as the stock tank.

If you wish to give input please do. Remember this is not AT. Keep the reality of the sit on hand (read my first two posts). No comments on need for water. We all know that. Thanks.